I was taught from a very young age by my mother that there are heavenly beings called Guardian Angels. Guardian Angels are supposedly beings that live in heaven and on Earth watching over people. These beings are supposed to protect children from harm as they grow up, and protect people in their darkest hour.

As a child I questioned the existence of these beings. For some reason I needed concrete proof for something to be true or exist. At this point in my life I hadn't acquired that "leap of faith" that most adults have. I still believed in God as a child, but was still curious for some proof of Guardian Angels. My mother would tell me stories of miracles that had really occurred to try and get me to believe in them. But I was still skeptical, thinking about how there are also a bunch of myths in this world.

I will never forget the day I acquired a "leap of faith" and started to believe in Guardian Angels. I was seven years old, and it was the day I had been dreading for two months: Moving Day. We were going to move from North Dakota all the way to Minnesota, which meant moving away from all my friends and family.

Now, you might be thinking, what's the big deal? But let me tell you, from a seven year old's perspective, moving is like being told you are being sent to H*ll.

So, I returned to my room to look for any misplaced things. I glanced at the bare walls that used to hold my drawings and pictures, which were now just faded memories. I envisioned my bed being pushed into the corner, just under my window where I could view my tree fort. Memories flashed through my head: Mike and Evan climbing up it to meet me again to play, us pretending to be pirates sailing the ocean blue or monkeys climbing a tree. I imagined that same picture without me in it.

I started to tear up at the thought and ran out into the front yard to take in a deep warm breath. I could hear the birds chirping at one another; the sun was shining its light down on the grass, making it feel like a nice warm cozy bed. I lay down to look up at the clear blue sky, taking in its endless beauty. As a warm breeze swept across my body, I started to relax and felt warm inside. I felt a calm inside of me that I had never experienced before. I felt as light as a cloud, drifting in the open air. I noticed that a stray white cloud had entered the sky. Its shape started to slowly melt, molding here and there to form a hand. But it seemed to be a hand that was pointing at something. I felt as if the cloud was trying to communicate to me. Confused, I let my eyes drift in the direction it was pointing and noticed my little brother Joey - who was four years old at the time - in his tiny blue overalls. He was wearing his favorite Blue's Clues hat and skipping along the sidewalk.

I watched him, as he picked some flowers, looked at them, and smelled them. Wow, I thought, why on earth is he acting like a girl!

But my humor was short lived, as I watched him gazing at something shiny in the street. He suddenly dropped the flowers and ran over to it. As he stood near the mysterious item, the cloud from earlier blocked the sun, making me look up from the street to the sky. As I did this, I noticed some movement from atop the hill. I saw an old rusty orange pick-up truck, starting to go down the hill and gaining speed toward my bother.

WAIT! TOWARD MY BROTHER! I realized frantically as I started to scramble onto my feet. I caught a quick glimpse at the truck again, and it seemed to smile at me, as if it were saying, "Bring it on!" It was as if this was the face of Death himself! He seemed to have revved the engine, floored the gas, and taken aim at my brother. I realized frantically that this had become a race between Death and me, to see who could reach my brother first.

Time seemed to slow down, as I raced toward my innocent looking brother. I could see my mom, who apparently had seen my brother in the street. She stood on the front steps with a look of horror on her face and screamed, "JOEY!!!!!"

Death was now only 20 feet away and was closing in fast for the kill. I exerted all my strength into one little thought: Reach my brother!

Suddenly, I felt a surge of energy start pumping throughout my muscles. A mysterious force had entered my body. With this new profound energy, it felt as if I was sprinting as fast as the truck. I glanced back at Death and noticed with a heart-wrenching worry that he was winning. As I looked, I finally noticed the driver this time, but since the truck was going so fast, I couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman. What I could tell, however, was that this driver was distracted with something else way more important than my brother's life.

As I came to a speeding stop at my brother's side, I started to thrust my arm toward him when I was cast out of my body by the same strong force that had given me the energy boost. I now stood in the grass, literally looking at myself. This force or being then, using my own body, thrust my arm at my brother, grabbed a hold of his arm, and - with the power of 1000 horses - yanked my brother from the road just a split second before the truck reached where my brother had been standing as I stood in the yard with my jaw open.


As soon as the truck had passed us I was suddenly back in my body. As I was still processing what happened, my mom flew toward us like a hawk swooping down from above to gather her hatchlings in her wings.

I tried to speak up but my mother grabbed us with all her might, crying on our shoulders as tears of joy flowed from her eyes. Feeling my brother’s body squeezed up beside me, I turned to look at him. He was bug-eyed and wondering why he was being hugged. A smile came across my face as I thought, Ha-ha, that’s good old Joey for ya!

As I sat there with my mother, I kept wondering what that mysterious force actually was. Only when we got back inside that house did the pieces fall into place. I was trudging down the hallway, still in shock, when I noticed that a picture was still hanging on the bare wall. It was a picture of a woman standing next to my grandpa. This woman was my grandma, who unfortunately passed away due to breast cancer before I was even born. Right then and there I just knew she was and still is special. Special because she was that force outside, or should I say, our family's own Guardian Angel.